The KMT's ex-legislator Diane Lee: the Smell of Rotten Fish Becomes Stronger in Taiwan

Wednesday December 31, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

There is indeed something rotten in both Denmark and in Taiwan as the Diane Lee case drags on. Lee has now resigned from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) but she still remains locked in denial. Who wouldn't if you had committed a criminal act and owed over US $3 million dollars to the people of Taiwan? There is a simple solution however, but Diane Lee does not provide it. Diane Lee got her first passport in 1991. US passports are good for ten years; that means that Diane Lee's passport would have to have been renewed in 2001. So why would the US state that her passport is still valid? What number is the passport under? Does it show renewal? 2001 was a crucial year in US history and entrance requirements have become much stricter.

The Lee case has been around a long time, but more strongly in the last ten months. Lee need only show one of two simple documents, provide the certificate of official revocation, or provide the old passport number from which a simple computer check would show whether it had been renewed.

One scenario, Lee used her passport up until the time it expired thus still violating the law. Another scenario, Lee kept her US passport after taking office and did not renounce it. If then the passport was renewed? By whom? Other scenarios? Whatever way you look at it, violation screams from the shadows.

Where is Ma Ying-jeou on this one? The little white rabbit that does not want to get his paws dirty is probably saying, "Someone please do something to make this go away." Face it, Ma does not control his own party. He is either in collusion on this or he is impotent and that is why the scoundrels in the KMT feel they can operate with impunity. They have operated this way since they won a veto-overriding majority in the Legislative Yuan.

Yes, someone is going to be caught with their pants down on this one; is it Diane Lee? Is it US Consular service? Is it both? Folks this one is far from over.

Yet amidst it all, Lee remains free to walk the streets, collude with whomever she wants, and even plan her exit though I am not sure which passport she will use for it. But the members of the opposition party, they have been cuffed, jailed etc. for less suspicion of violation of law than Lee, and the KMT has not even issued a mild censure. Is justice partial in Taiwan? Only the blind cannot see that one.